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Tag Archives: slavery

The Road Back by David & Lisa Frisbie

05 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by truebooktalks in Adult, Missions

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abusive relationships, slavery, social justice

Every adult person is probably knowledgeable to some degree  of the  existance of slavery in our world.  Most are not aware of its extent. Here are some facts: There are 27 million persons in the world who are in slavery.  The majority of them are enslaved for the sex trade.  Among those who are enslaved for sexual trafficking, 80% are women and half of those are underage females.  Each facilitator, or pimp, averages 4.5 people in their group. A significant and growing number of these facilitators are women. Many teens in the U.S are trafficked while they are in middle school or high school  The first contacts are usually made through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter This is not a big city problem; four Tennessee counties each reported more than 100 cases within their borders in a 24 month period.

The above are a few of the facts the reader will learn from this book. The first part of the book, before the actual chapters begin introduce the reader to the purpose of the book, the authors of the book and their credentials, a prologue which explains how the authors came to be involved in rescuing trafficked people, and a dedication to those who helped in this cause. In each chapter are personal stories of those who have been saved from sexual slavery.

Chapter one is devoted to the problems in the Asia and Pacific area, in particular to the Philippines where most of the trafficking is done online.  Surprisingly, I discovered that the parents, themselves, are often the purveyors of this type of pornography.  The economic conditions they face force them into the business as a way of survival. Those who want to help must approach the problem from several different avenues. Helping the economic situation is often part of the solution. The Church of the Nazarene has established one children’s home which can handle up to 20 residential children at a time. The church partners with several other groups to provide the physical, psychological, and social care needed. Maria’s story is told in this chapter.  She and her two sisters were rescued in 2016. Maria was ten.

Chapter two discusses a program that the church has founded in South Africa named S-Cape.  This program was developed by a woman named Madison Barefield from the U.S who interned  in Hawaii then continued her studies in South Africa. There her heart was moved for the plight of those people taken into the sex trafficking business. She began to actively search for ways to help them.  Partnering with Business Tech, she learned that 250,000 persons are being victimized in the RSA. Business Tech estimates that of those exploited people only one percent will be able to leave it in their lifetime. That is only 2,500 that may one day be rescued. Madison engaged the help of another woman, Miryam Cherpillod.  Together they campaigned and helped the RSA to pass the Trafficking in Persons Act of 2013. S-Cape is centered in Capetown, RSA.  Kathryn’s story tells of how she was enticed by another woman to go with her to get a “good job” and how that job led to her enslavement.

Chapter three discusses efforts in Europe to deal with the issue.  It was in Europe that the authors first began their work with a Romanian pastor’s wife named Monica Boseff. The three of them worked to begin a Center that would provide a safe refuge for exploited women.  Monica traveled all over Europe and North America to spread her message of hope and to raise money for the Center.  Her efforts drew the attention of the BBC .  The piece they broadcast further helped in her mission.  During a visit to Romania, then vice president, Joe Biden gave an award to the Center and to its director for their efforts in stopping the exploitation of women. The story in this chapter is about how a concerned neighbor worked with the Center in Romania to help a young mother and her child escape a husband who was trafficking her.

Chapter four provides many facts about the sex business in San Diego county of California. In that one area there are more than 8,000 victims a year.  As many as 110 separate gangs are involved in it.  Human trafficking revenue is second only to drug trafficking there because it is highly profitable for the gangs. Jamie Gates, a graduate of Eastern Nazarene College and of the Nazarene Theological Seminary combined his interest in cultural anthropology and his heart for compassionate ministries to found and fund the Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Working with Ami Carpenter of the University of San Diego, he produced a report about the  extent and nature of sex trafficking in San Diego and the Tijuana, Mexico region in order to bring awareness of the problem to people who can help make changes. The story of Jessica Kim, a survivor of sex trafficking is told here. She benefitted from a program the CJR provides called Beauty for Ashes,  That program helped her earn a college degree.  She, in turn, is helping others.

Chapter five takes the reader to middle America and the state of Tennessee. Heather Edwards a young girl who benefitted from the social services of Rutherford county and their residential center for domestic abuse began to look for ways to help more women as she enrolled in a graduate program at Trevecca Nazarene University.  She began to work as a resident manger for Rest Stop, a program that attempts to reach the sexually exploited and to provide them a safe haven while they transition to a normal life. Rest Stop is part of the Compassionate Ministries of Hermitage Church of the Nazarene in Nashville. This chapter is loaded with facts about what Rest Stop and the State of Tennessee are doing to stop this horror in our society.

The book ends with suggestions for how the reader can get involved into helping those enslaved and in helping end the trafficking of other humans. The authors suggest organizations the reader could become involved with and provides several web sites.  It ends with the telephone number for the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888.  I recommend this book to all who want to be an instrument of change.

If you are interested in obtaining this book, you may contact any Church of the Nazarene.  They may have it available for loan. Or, you can go directly to the publisher: The Foundry Publishing Company at https://www.thefoundrypublishing.com   Here it is sold as a set with two other missionary books.

I highly recommend asking a church for it. If they don’t have it, most will be willing to purchase the set for others to read.

 

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The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by truebooktalks in Social Issues, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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sex trade, slavery, social justice

Clementine has just turned sixteen and Mother Fleur, the housemistress, is preparing her for her Lucky Night, the night she will finally become a woman.   She and her sister Aster have lived with Mother Fleur for 10 years since her parents had to sell the girls or let them starve to death. Since Aster was older than Clementine, she had already had her Lucky Night. Aster tells her nothing about the night except to NOT drink the Sweet Thistle (a type of narcotic) that Mother Fleur would give her and to think about a song while she entertained the brag that had paid a big price for her. 

No one tells her what she is expected to do or what the brag will do, just that she is to make him happy.  Nothing goes as it should and her brag lies dead on the floor.  The only thing she can do is to get someone to help her and then to run as far as she can before the raveners, creatures that can get into ones mind and destroy it, get her.  Aster comes to her aid, along with three other good luck girls, Tansy, Mallow and Violet.  Their escape is frantic and often violent. A young tracker finds them and actually helps them instead of turning them in as he should. 

This is a fast-paced story set in a fanciful, yet very realistic world that will keep the reader turning pages as fast as possible.  Davis has taken on a very disturbing social situation, sex slave trafficking, in a thoughtful and discrete manner. There are some implied sexual scenes and some very violent scenes of beatings and murder. I definitely recommend this book for high school readers.

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The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing up Bill Cody in Bleeding Kansas by Andrew Warren

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in History, Young Adult

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History, Kansas, movie material, slavery, United States

bill cody

This is a well-written biography of William Cody and of the history of the Kansas Territory.  It reads like a novel – full of action and suspense.  Younger readers who have little knowledge of the events leading up to the statehood of Kansas will learn about the bloody fights that occurred while Kansas struggled to decide if it would be free or slave. Cody’s part in those events is not whitewashed, and some may be upset because the author clearly shows him taking part in things that we would consider criminal today.

John Brown and his followers are introduced, but only enough to pique the interest of the reader to look for more information about him. The reader will also learn a great deal about the Pony Express.  At fourteen, Cody was the youngest rider on this circuit, and faced many dangers in doing his job. The short-lived Pony Express had a great impact on our history and on the life of Bill Cody.

The writer presents Cody as a very real person with a family that he loved and cared for. The latter years of his life and the Wild West Show for which he is most famous is discussed. The show itself had been criticized because he included Sitting Bull in it. Cody believed that the battle with Custer took place only because Sitting Bull’s tribe was trying to defend its families, and so he ignored the people who felt he should leave Sitting Bull out of the show. He was a gentleman who remained true to his beliefs and tried to leave the world a better place. Because of that, there are museums in several states which are dedicated to William Cody.

The text is well-researched and includes pictures, maps and additional notes to further help the reader. I definitely recommend this for upper elementary through high school readers.

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My Name is Truth: the life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Picture Books

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abolitionist movement, Children's books, History, Picture Book, slavery, women

my name is truth

Finding non-fiction for young readers is sometimes challenging.  Finding good biographies about women is also a challenge. This book meets those challenges in an exceptional way. Sojourner Truth’s belief in God shines through clearly without being “preachy.” Her strength of character is obvious, but she is also shown as having fears and sometimes doubts about herself.  She is a very real woman.

Ann Turner tells the story of Sojourner Truth to younger readers using Truth’s own words.  James Ransome has done a fantastic job with the illustrations. Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree. She was one of at least 10 children born to her parents.  Her mother instilled in her a love for God and a good knowledge of right and wrong.

Her last owner was very cruel and worked Isabella like a draft horse because she was tall and strong. New York was set to abolish slavery in 1827 and her owner had told her that she would go free a year before that happened, but she was injured and her owner refused to let her go, so she escaped with her baby Sophia.

She had to leave her three other children with her former owner because she could not take all four of them on her flight to freedom.  When she found out that Mr. Dumont, her former owner has sold her son, Peter, she went to court and won his release. (This was the first case of its kind in the U.S.).

She took the name Sojourner Truth many years later and became a strong voice in the abolitionist movement and with William Lloyd Garrison to free all slaves.  I think the book will appeal to children of all ages; however, is specifically designed for grades 1-3. I would highly recommend its purchase for any elementary library.

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